Jesus' Teachings in the fourth Gospel on the nature of discipleship
Jesus’ Teachings in the fourth Gospel on the nature of discipleship Teachers around the time when Jesus lived thought that learning was such that the people who wanted to learn should come to them to be taught. But Jesus felt differently and rather than waiting for people to come to him, he went out to find them and then chose them to be his followers. He called them disciples and this word means one who learns. But Jesus chose his disciples carefully. He didn’t pick anyone. He chose people that God said to get. God would tell him the people to get and he would enroll them as disciples. The disciples were ordinary people who Jesus ask to follow him it is strange that Jesus did not pick any particular person, he just chose four fishermen to be his most loyal companions who would be prepared to die, suffer, be rejected, and go to prison. Today the meaning is watered down slightly as Jesus is not present (in the flesh) today but those who choose to follow Jesus by becoming a priest or missionary, for example, are still required to set aside any personal wishes and commit fully to God whatever the cost. However, most Christians today are not required to undergo harsh persecution in their discipleship, as the disciples would have received in Jesus¡¦ time. However, discipleship can still be dangerous today: In 2000 165,000 Christians died for their faith and in the last 10 years 603 missionaries have been murdered or killed as part of war. Jesus called the disciples with great personal authority at the beginning of Mark's gospel. In chapters 1-2 we are told how Jesus called five men to become his first disciples. In 1:16-20 ¡¥Jesus calls four
fishermen¡¦ the first four were called. They were Simon, Andrew, James and John. Jesus sees Simon and his brother Andrew catching fish with a net. He says to them "come with me and I will teach you to catch people. ¨ They immediately left their nets and followed him. He then called James and John; they too immediately left what they were doing to follow Jesus. Jesus means that they will ¡¥catch¡¦ people for God, or bring them to the faith. We see from this account that Jesus chooses ordinary people to be his disciples, they don't have to be ...
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fishermen¡¦ the first four were called. They were Simon, Andrew, James and John. Jesus sees Simon and his brother Andrew catching fish with a net. He says to them "come with me and I will teach you to catch people. ¨ They immediately left their nets and followed him. He then called James and John; they too immediately left what they were doing to follow Jesus. Jesus means that they will ¡¥catch¡¦ people for God, or bring them to the faith. We see from this account that Jesus chooses ordinary people to be his disciples, they don't have to be well educated or clever, he only chooses those who are willing to follow and who he thinks will have the qualities of a true disciple. Then in 2:13-14 Jesus sees Levi son of Alpheus, (sometimes-named James) a tax collector. Jesus said to him Follow me¨ and Levi got up and followed him. Levi was an outcast because of his profession. Tax collectors were hated for betraying the Jews by working for the Romans. Jesus also ate with other tax collectors and outcasts, when people asked why he said I have not come to call respectable people, but outcasts. ¨ In both of these accounts what is surprising is the five men's willingness to immediately leave what they were doing to follow Jesus. This shows Jesus must have been a very charismatic and powerful personality to persuade these men to leave everything and follow him with just a few simple words. The men knew nothing about Jesus yet were willing to leave their jobs, their families and any money or property behind. (We also know Simon had a wife as Jesus heals his mother in law in 1:30) This must have been a very hard decision to make, they probably would have felt excited yet dubious as they didn't know where they are going and unsure of what they would be doing. Yet with all those emotions they chose to follow Jesus. They obviously have great trust in Jesus even though they had only just met. After these events Jesus was constantly with the disciples. He later chose twelve in 3:13-15 I have chosen you to be with me¡¨ he told them ¡¨I will also send you out to preach and you will have the authority to drive out demons. ¨ Here Jesus is outlining for the first time the role that the disciples will have; they will be pioneers along with him in his mission in the world. Then, having been with Jesus constantly, learning from him as they watched him preaching and performing miracles, he sends them out so they can learn to depend on themselves and each other not on Jesus alone, and so have the experience preaching on their own. In 6:7-13 the mission of the twelve¡¨ he gave the disciples several instructions and gave them authority over evil spirits. He set them three tasks: first, to preach that people should turn away from their sins and repent, secondly, to anoint the sick to heal them and thirdly, to cast out evil spirits. By doing this they would be carrying on the work of Jesus. We have seen that he preached repentance in 1:15 the kingdom of God is near! Turn away from your sins. ¨ That he healed the sick in 1:29, 1:40, and 2:1 etc ¨he healed many people¡¨ 8:10, and drove out evil spirits in 1:23-27. Again he is outlining the job, which disciples should do; we begin to see the disciples as the beginnings of the Christian church, outlining the mission of its members. In 8:34-38 Jesus clearly outlines the cost of discipleship. If anyone wants to come with me he must forget self, carry his cross and follow me. ¨ When Jesus says ¡¥forget self¡¦ he means that to follow him one should put oneself last in everything, to not care about ones status and to not want privileges except being accepted by God into his kingdom. When he says ¡¥carry his cross¡¦ he is saying that his disciples must be prepared to follow Jesus even when it means persecution to the point of death. Later on we see that many of the disciples (at least 10 of the 12) eventually die for their faith. To follow Jesus is to go through suffering, persecution and death, to put Jesus and God first. But discipleship does also have its rewards, in ¡¥The rich young man¡¦ 10:17-31 we are told that Jesus thinks that people who give up things for him and the kingdom of God, be they family or material possessions, will be rewarded. Anyone who leaves homes or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and for the gospel will receive much more in this present age. He will receive a hundred times more houses, brothers and sisters, mothers, children and fields. ¨ 10:29 Jesus is saying they will receive more in the present age because they have become part of the family of God and those who share in the faith will become like brothers and sisters. He then goes on to say that in the age to come he will receive eternal life. ¨ But he says again that there will be persecution as well. And in the request of James and John ( 10: 35), he warns that to follow Jesus involves suffering. They ask him "When you sit on your throne in your glorious kingdom, we want you to let us sit with you, one at your right and one at your left. ¨ 10:37. They assume that Jesus is going to be a king of an earthly kingdom, and they are asking for positions of power. Jesus tells them they do not know what they are asking for. He asks them "Can you drink the cup of suffering that I must drink? "Can you be baptized in the way I must be baptized? ¨ 10:38 Jesus role is to suffer for others, he is saying that to be a true disciple one should also be ready to suffer. He then called the other ten disciples together and told them If one of you wants to be great he must be the servant of the rest, and if one of you wants to be first, he must be the slave of all. ¨ 10:43. Jesus means that for a disciple to be great he must learn to put others and heir needs first. In John, Jesus’ teachings say quite clearly what you have to do and give up to become a disciple. You have to put Jesus first in everything you do, leaving your personal feelings aside until Jesus’ will in performed effectively and fully. When you become a disciple you also have help. When it was time for Jesus to go to heaven, the disciples didn’t want him to go because they were scared that they would lose faith and they would need guidance. But Jesus said in John 16:7, “But I am telling you the truth: it is better for you that I go away, because if I don’t go, Helper will not come to you. But if I do go away, then I will send him to you. “ This basically means that if they let Jesus go to heaven, then in return Jesus will send the Holy Spirit to help the disciples and guide them when they are in need. In conclusion, I would like to say that Mark and John show exactly what Jesus wanted in his disciples. He wanted them to be honest, loving, trustworthy, gentle, kind, and independent. He didn’t want to have to keep on babying them whenever they didn’t understand something. He wanted them to know everything he knew, so that there could be 12 Jesus’ when he had to go and this is the main reason why he chose disciples.
